SubscriptionsColumn / Investigation: Crypto Politics
Dark money, lobbying, regulatory capture, state institutions hollowed by donor factions, foreign interference, and the financialisation of political power.
-
Revealed: Former MPs Used Parliament Access Passes Over 3,000 times
This is the last time you’ll ever know about ex-MPs who lobby for nuclear, gambling and energy industries visiting Parliament – because Jacob Rees Mogg had all the data destroyed
-
Fears of a ‘Progressive Tragedy’ in Mid Beds as Labour and Lib Dems Fight It Out
Compass director Neal Lawson described the situation in Nadine Dorries’ seat as “madness”.
-
Brexit: Betrayal, Divergence and Dishonesty
Despite Keir Starmer’s mixed comments on our future relationship with the EU, Labour’s Brexit omertà seems to be over, writes Shamik Das
-
Voter ID, Big Party Bungs, and Payouts to Shamed MPs Would Be Scrapped Under Lib Dem Plans
The Liberal Democrats have set out proposals for overhauling UK democracy, our Chief Reporter writes from Bournemouth.
-
‘Government Stonewalling on Transparency on Foreign Influence Undermines its Tough Rhetoric on Chinese Spying’
An approach to foreign influence that relies on identifying particular state threats risks shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, writes Tom Griffin
-
Campaigners Risk Prison by Standing Outside Courts Telling Jurors of ‘Right to Acquit’
Trudi Warner faces up to two years in prison for contempt of court. Now activists across the country are copying her action in solidarity
-
Welsh Government Throws Down the Gauntlet in Bid to Stop Controversial ‘Anti-Boycott’ Bill
Opponents of the bill say it is designed to undermine the freedom of speech of those critical of the Israeli Government
-
Government Rejects Call For Voters To Boot Out No-Show MPs Like Nadine Dorries
Nadine Dorries has prompted a debate over whether MPs should be forced to attend Parliament – rather than attend their lucrative TV gigs.
-
Putin’s Post-Truth Politics: The Impeachment of Biden is History Rewritten as Farce
The spurious Republican inquiry treads the same treacherous ground of Russian propaganda exposed in the impeachment of Trump
-
‘A Poor Country with a Few Rich People in it’: Renowned Inequalities Expert Speaks Out as Bereaved Families Give their Accounts of ‘The Unequal Pandemic’
A new short film reveals the heart-wrenching stories of those who lost their loved ones to COVID – and exposes the politics of poverty behind the crisis
-
One Alleged Chinese Spy Simply Means There Are Many More
China has emerged as a greater threat than Russia, despite Ukraine. In the New Cold War, China is richer, more populous, and the dominant power pitted against the West
-
Voter ID Made it Harder for Young, Poor and Ethnic Minorities to Vote, Official Study Finds
The study suggests that those groups less likely to vote Conservative were more likely to be turned away
-
Westminster’s Two-Party ‘Duopoly’ Leaves Voters with ‘Little Choice’ and Lacking ‘Meaningful Voice’, Study Finds
Political distrust has often “been the first step in a sequence of autocratisation, resulting in the breakdown of democracy itself” the report notes.
-
Press Watchdog Writes to Conservatives and Party Chairs Over ‘Misleading’ Fake Newspapers
The party is “misleading voters into believing what they are reading is the work of local journalists from independent publications”
-
‘Rather than Blaming Capitalism, the Right Blames the Immigrant’
The significant gains made by the right across Europe in recent years haven’t appeared out of the blue, writes Simon Speakman Cordall
-
‘Noisy Reporting’ by Media of COVID Financial Scandals led to UK’s Slump in Corruption Index, Cabinet Office Claims
A new parliamentary report reveals that, apart from the £16.4 billion estimated tax and benefit fraud found by the National Audit Office last year, ministers have no idea about the level of fraud in the rest of government
-
‘Britain and the US: How the Oligarchies Posing as Democracies have Been Exposed’
Something even worse than government run by politicians is government run by politics, writes AC Grayling
-
‘Austerity is a False Economy that has Brought the Nation’s Roof Crumbling Down’
The collapsing school buildings scandal has exposed how the Government failed to ‘fix the roof while the sun was shining’
-
‘If Our Government Turns on its Own People, We Will Need the ECHR to Protect Us’
The European Court of Human Rights is there to safeguard us against our own worst impulses – calls to leave its jurisdiction are deeply troubling, writes Alexandra Hall Hall
-
Rishi Sunak’s Government is ‘Institutionally Corrupt’ Say Voters
A majority of voters believe corruption in the UK Government has got worse in recent years, according to our exclusive new poll
-
Rishi Sunak Says ‘All Crimes’ Must Be Investigated – So Why is he Blocking Plans to Go After Fraudsters, Cronies and Kleptocrats?
Sunak’s Government is throwing out plans to get dirty money out of the UK
-
‘The Modern Conservative Party Holds the ‘Will of the People’ in Contempt’
In Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives, the ethos of public service is being replaced by self-service
-
A Timeline of Interference: How Trump and Russia Targeted Georgia Election
Big questions remain about Russia’s attempts to interfere in US elections
-
How Cultural Workers are Striking Back Against Poverty Pay
A new wave of unionisation in the cultural sector is pushing back against a decade of austerity in the sector
-
The Russian-Linked Fintech Moguls Given Safe Haven by the UK
Matt Bernardini reveals the Russian-linked Fintech companies that continue to operate from the UK, despite being sanctioned elsewhere for their ties to the country
-
Fake Newspapers Sent by Political Parties Should be Banned, Voters Say
Two thirds of Conservative voters also want the tactic currently being pushed by Rishi Sunak’s party to be outlawed
-
Rishi Sunak’s Many Failures to Fully Declare his Conflicts of Interests
The claim that the PM’s failure to declare his wife’s investment in a childcare company subsidised by his Government was ‘inadvertent’ is open to question
-
Gambling Firms Hit With Huge Increase in Fines as Industry Splashes out on MPs
Gambling companies received 31,500% more in fines than in the same period a decade ago, Byline Times’ analysis reveals
-
Voters are Posting the Conservative Party’s Fake Newspapers Back in Bid to Cost Them a Fortune
There has been a major backlash to the party’s attempts to pass off campaign leaflets as independent local newspapers
-
Tufton Street-Linked Trans-Exclusionary Charity Receives Surge in Funding
The LGB Alliance has received a surge in donations amid ongoing calls for it to lose its charitable status
-
Revealed: The Scandal of the Fake Newspapers Pushed by Conservatives in ‘Dirty Tricks’ Campaign
The elections watchdog has said the fake newspapers from local Conservative parties appear to be within the rules
-
All the President’s Lies: How Trump Fell Into the Georgia Indictment’s False Statement Trap
One of the key elements of the Georgia false statement criminal statute is ‘knowing’ misrepresentations are false
-
Blood, Faeces, Rubbish, Mice: The Student Accommodation Crisis Laid Bare
Student housing has never been known for its quality but, in recent years, the system has been pushed to breaking point
-
‘Code of Conduct’ Review: A Brave and Important Work – With a Few Omissions
The proposals set out by Labour MP Chris Bryant to clean-up Parliament should be adopted by his party’s leader for its next manifesto, writes Peter Oborne
-
Anger as Nadine Dorries’ Year-Long Silence in Parliament is Deemed ‘Within the Rules’ By Standards Watchdog
Despite failing to speak in Parliament for over a year, Tory MP Nadine Dorries has made time for her lucrative TalkTV job
-
Another Trump Indictment Looms, but What Can Georgia Add to January 6?
The Fulton Country District Attorney is looking at the same facts as the federal indictment, but under different laws and with the potential for new uninvestigated evidence
-
The White Ear of Ofsted and the ‘Sonic Surveillance’ of Education
The focus on ‘language’ policing by the arbiters of educational standards exacerbates class and racial inequalities argues a new report
-
‘Nothing But a Ruse’: The Cambodian Elections are Another Assault on Democracy
The appointment of the current leader’s son is another example of how oligarchy and autocracy is turning the tide against democracy
-
The UK and US’ Turbulent Times: A Race to the Bottom
Former British diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall, who now lives in the US, explores which country has been on the bigger self-destruct mission
-
‘Who or What to Blame? Education, Education, Education’
Too many voters are insufficiently informed and reflective to vote other than tribally or self-interestedly in exploitable ways due to failings in how we conceive of ‘education’, writes AC Grayling
-
‘We Must Defend Our Democratic Space Before It’s Too Late’
Caroline Slocock – director of think tank Civil Exchange – explores how politicians’ respect for our democratic institutions has shifted since she was the first female private secretary at No. 10 under Margaret Thatcher
-
As a Diminished Wagner Regroups, the Greater Threat to the West from Prigozhin’s Troll Farms Remains Unscathed
Putin is quite likely to silence Prigozhin, but he’s equally likely to let him retain control of the notorious St Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency which specialises in influencing foreign elections, writes Brian Latham
-
Ministers Block Calls for Overhaul of Lobbying Rules Despite Slew of Sleaze Scandals
Westminster’s top ethics watchdog will remain under the Prime Minister’s thumb, raising questions about impartiality.
